US stocks slip again

Wall Street waded through another disappointing session today, dropping for the fourth straight day as investors looked in vain for firm indications that US business is improving and corporate accounting can be trusted.

Stocks fell on news that federal regulators were looking into Calpine’s bookkeeping. The market’s mood was also gloomy because of lingering uncertainty about an overall business recovery.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 32.04, or 0.3%, at 9,653.39.

The technology-focused Nasdaq composite index suffered a more significant loss, falling 25.79, or 1.4%, to 1,812.73. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index slipped 6.51, or 0.6%, to 1,083.51.

Wall Street spent much of the session waiting for quarterly results from Cisco Systems, which were due out after the market closed. A company memo released on Tuesday suggested those figures would beat expectations, causing the stock to rise 11 cents to dlrs 18.61.

Investors have been waiting for months for some kind of catalyst to convince them that now is the time to buy. Many had expected upbeat corporate forecasts in January to provide a spark; when those outlooks failed to materialise, stocks fell back.

More recently, the Enron accounting scandal, as well as doubts about bookkeeping at Tyco and other companies, have made Wall Street question the validity of earnings reports in general. Those fears have exacerbated concerns that stock prices are too high, given the murky forecast for earnings and the failure of most companies to say that business has turned around.

In trading today, Tyco managed a small rebound from the selling that has devastated the stock over the past week on questions about its books. It rose dlrs 2.82, or 12%, to dlrs 25.92 after executives said the company would be more forthcoming about its finances and progress in plans announced last month to break the corporation into four separate companies.

But that buying failed to spark any broader momentum.

Calpine fell dlrs 1.95 to dlrs 6.80 on news the company received a letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 20 regarding a review of its disclosure practices.

Technology stocks were particularly vulnerable, with Intel dropping 88 cents to dlrs 32.92 and Microsoft losing 70 cents to dlrs 60.45.

Financials were weak, too. American Express fell dlrs 1.60 to dlrs 32.90.

Today, the US Labour Department reported worker productivity in the last three months of 2001 rose by the largest amount in more than a year as businesses cut workers’ hours and eliminated jobs to cope with the ailing economy. Wall Street showed little reaction to the news, however, because the information concerns past, not current or future events.

Declining issues led advancers more than 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume totalled 1.65 billion shares, compared with 1.77 billion shares on Tuesday.

The Russell 2000 index fell 6.41 to 462.41.